Interview with Greg Rutherford for Time Crashers

Why did you want to do this show?
My favourite subject at school was history and it’s still a part of my life which I’m keen to learn about. I spend a lot of time at home watching the History Channel; I’m a massive geek at heart. So when this opportunity came up it was exactly the type of thing that I knew I would love to have a go at. It was right up my street and a bit of a no-brainer, to be honest with you.

What is it about history that you love so much?
It’s just something that captivates my imagination. From a young age I was obsessed with knights and the medieval period. From then on it sparked my interest and went to a broader scale. Now most periods of history I enjoy learning about and studying.

You must have been in your element when you Time Crashed into the medieval era?
It was my favourite era. Crashing into the medieval times and becoming a squire was by far the greatest thing for me. It was incredible. I absolutely loved it, it was something I had dreamt of from a very early age, so the whole way through I couldn’t keep the smile off my face and was keen to do anything and everything going. It was something I have always wanted to do and I would love to do it again.

What was your biggest concern going into it?
Throughout the show I pushed myself as hard as I could to make sure we always completed the tasks. My typical competitive side stopped me from taking it easy because I was so keen to do well. I struggled to switch off so there were a couple of scenarios where I pushed it a little too hard and picked up a couple of injuries. In terms of the historical side of the show, I wasn’t too concerned because I have watched so many programmes.

How about the clothing?
The footwear was the worst! It’s incredibly important to me. I have custom made spikes when I’m jumping and trainers for everything else. But I had to wear this traditional footwear which left me feet very sore and painful. It was nothing major and I recovered very quickly, the crew were great in making sure I was well looked after, but it wasn’t ideal. I went into the show feeling like I was probably going to be the fittest person there and within the first few days I was struggling so I don’t think I was particularly a good ambassador for fitness and sport!

How did you feel giving up all your modern gadgets?
It was a strange one because I have a young son so being able to FaceTime him is really important. When we filmed he was only five and a half months old so it was a really important time in his life, so I was worried about that. But after a week, and with the camaraderie we built up between us, it was ok, and then by the end I wasn’t missing the gadgets at all. Of course I was missing my family but the phones, laptops and everything else, I just didn’t miss them and I actually found it quite liberating to be able to switch off and not worry about it.

What did you make of the other celebrities on the show?
They were a great bunch. I remember on the first day Kirstie Alley walked out and then Keith Allen came out and I couldn’t really comprehend what was going on. I was there thinking that as Keith does a lot of historical programmes then maybe he’s part of the show, and I knew Kirstie is an actress so thought maybe she had something to do with it too. I really couldn’t comprehend that I was going to be doing the show with these kinds of people. We all got on so well and we all stay in touch which is testament to how well we got on. There’s now a What’s App group going and we speak to each other over Twitter.

Were you star-struck by anyone?
Yeah, Kirstie and Keith! They are big stars and have been in a lot of things that I have seen and watched, so I was a bit amazed. Also, meeting Fern Britton and realising she’s one of the nicest women on the planet was great. I’d met Chris Ramsey before so we got on really well, Jermaine Jenas being a footballer meant we had sport in common and of course I’ve known Zoe Smith for years, it was great having her around because I knew I could always count on her.

Was the show harder than you thought?
Yeah, you can watch it on TV and have preconceived ideas about how tough it’s going to be, but until you actually do it you genuinely have no idea. It was incredibly hard, it wasn’t like we shot for a couple of hours and then went for a break; it was intensive the whole way through. We lived exactly the way people in those eras would have done.

Was there an era you really hated?
The hardest one and the one I hated the most was Edwardian. I was a hall boy which is the lowest servant in the food chain during that era. I was lower than everyone else, I was given no respect at all and I had a torrid time. I pushed myself nearly to the point of collapse trying to make sure I got the job done. We were working in a house and the Lords were all taking part in a shooting party so we had to prepare food and drinks for them on their return

What did you do in the Elizabethan era?
That was the first era we crashed into, we were servants in a house and we had to prepare for this rather grand feast that the masters were hosting. Some of the things we had to do were pretty grim, to be honest. One task I was given was to skin a deer, that was pretty tough. At one point I had to cut this poor thing’s head off. It had already been gutted for us but I had to finish it off. Then there was this really grim thing where we had to sew the back end of a pig to the front end of a goose, it was totally disgusting. Apparently during this era it was a common thing because they liked the idea of mythical creatures which they could show off to their guests. So basically I just had this grim horrible time being covered in blood and muck. It was a real baptism of fire.

What was your favourite moment?
It was the end of the Victorian period where we had all been working at sea as fishermen and women. It was the first time all of us had worked together. We’d been working in smaller teams before that, so there was a lovely moment where we had pulled together and got the fish order together. The girls had had their arms in fish guts all day, the guys had been doing back-breaking work out at sea, but everyone was so happy so the whole experience was lovely.

Were you shocked at how badly servants were treated?
Absolutely. The one thing I realised afterwards was that in every era apart from the medieval one where we were squires, we were treated like we were worthless and had no importance in the world. The hardest thing was realising that these poor people had no chance of getting out of that. There was a moment in the Edwardian era where the master told us what he thought of us at the end of the day and I thought he was going to destroy me. But he actually told me that I had worked really hard and had done great and one day he could see me becoming a butler. At that point I actually broke down and started crying! I think because it had been so stressful and emotional it all got a bit too much. I couldn’t speak, and part of that was the realisation that for the people who had lived through the Edwardian era, that had been their lives. I could just imagine what those hall boys had gone through. If you were in the lower levels of society you were basically screwed. Life now in comparison is so easy, we are very lucky in that way.